Sick Bighorn Sheep Get Medicated Feed

Washington and Oregon wildlife biologists have tried a new tactic to stop an epidemic killing bighorn sheep along the Snake River.

The urgency of the effort increased after a dead bighorn and other sick ones were spotted last week on the Idaho side of the Snake.

Another dead bighorn was found in southeastern Washington along the Grand Ronde River, a further sign the epidemic of bacterial pneumonia may be spreading.

Friday’s helicopter flight by the biologists included placing medicated feed near groups of the wild sheep.

Despite sightings of sick sheep near Lime Point along the Snake and the lowest reaches of the Grand Ronde, biologists Pat Fowler and Vic Coggins found the disease so far showed no signs of spreading farther south into Oregon.

While encouraging, Fowler said, the evidence increased that a December effort to corral the disease had fallen short.

“I feel like were sitting on a time bomb,” said Fowler, a Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologist.